Survey: Almost A Quarter Of Americans Have Less Than $100 Saved Up For An Emergency

Saw the following on the local evening news the other day. From a September 25 press release from Chicago-based CashNetUSA, an online leader in payday loan services:

Americans are facing a drought of rainy day funds to handle unexpected emergencies. Twenty-three percent of Americans have less than $100 in savings to cover an emergency expense if it happened today while forty-six percent report having less than $800, according to a new national survey conducted by online lender CashNetUSA.com. The findings reflect the growing percentage of individuals with varying socio-economic backgrounds living paycheck to paycheck.

Fifty-five percent of Americans surveyed with children under the age of 18 report having less than $800 to handle an emergency. Individuals living in the Northeastern and Western regions are more likely to have $800 or more in savings (at 60 percent respectively) while 31 percent of those living in the North Central region have less than $100.

(Editor’s note: Italics added for emphasis)

Sounds to me like Joe Six-Pack might be “tapped-out.”

And yet, some people still foolishly pin their hopes on Main Street spending us back to economic prosperity in the near future.

You can read the entire press release and results of the national survey on the CashNetUSA website here.